A tribute to Rabbi Jonathan Sacks

Posted on November 15, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

OPEN DOR MEDIA
Remembering Rabbi Jonathan Sacks: Our 10 Favorite Quotes and Teachings
by Noam Weissman
November 11, 2020

In his book “Radical Then, Radical Now,” Rabbi Jonathan Sacks quoted an idea from the Baal Shem Tov — the founder of Hasidism — who explained that the Jewish people is a living Torah scroll, and every Jew is one of its letters. The Torah is the story of the Jewish People and to be a Jew is to continue that story. Rabbi Sacks taught us to always be proud of that story and of being a part of it, to learn from it and to proudly pass it on to the next generation. With his passing it is up to each and every one of us to continue the story — to write the next chapter. READ MORE

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“Trump’s Legal Challenges Are Legitimate, but the Country Needs to be Ready if they are Unsuccessful”

Posted on November 15, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

WALL STREET JOURNAL
Let the Transition Proceed
by Charles Lipson
November 16, 2020

The more divisive our politics, the more important it is to respect the fundamentals of constitutional democracy. Two tenets are critical: Free and fair elections in which legal votes are counted honestly, and The peaceful transition of power. Taken together, they mean it is appropriate to pose legal challenges to an election’s integrity but not to impede the transition. Two weeks after Election Day, President Trump’s team hasn’t presented compelling evidence against Joe Biden’s victory. They are assembling that evidence and Mr. Trump says he sees a path to victory, but there is no reason to delay the procedures for transferring power to a potential Biden administration. That can be done while Trump’s court challenges go forward. READ MORE

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Bill Maher: Trump voter’s “primary reason for voting for him was to create a bulwark against Democrats”

Posted on November 15, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

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“Israeli agents shot Abu Muhammad al-Masri on the streets of Tehran at the behest of the U.S., officials said, but no one — Iran, Al Qaeda, the U.S. or Israel — has publicly acknowledged the killing”

Posted on November 12, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

NEW YORK TIMES
Al Qaeda’s No. 2, Accused in U.S. Embassy Attacks, Is Secretly Killed in Iran
by Adam Goldman, Eric Schmitt, Farnaz Fassihi and Ronen Bergman
November 13, 2020

Al Qaeda’s second-highest leader, accused of being one of the masterminds of the deadly 1998 attacks on American embassies in Africa, was killed in Iran three months ago, intelligence officials have confirmed. Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah, who went by the nom de guerre Abu Muhammad al-Masri, was gunned down on the streets of Tehran by two assassins on a motorcycle on Aug. 7, the anniversary of the embassy attacks. He was killed along with his daughter, Miriam, the widow of Osama bin Laden’s son Hamza bin Laden. The attack was carried out by Israeli operatives at the behest of the United States, according to four of the officials. READ MORE

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“It would be a really big mistake to turn the clock back to 2016 and resurrect the nuclear deal,” McMaster added”

Posted on November 12, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

JERUSALEM POST
Former Trump advisor: Israel may act against Iran before Biden admin
by Cody Levine
November 12, 2020

Former National Security Advisor Gen. H.R. McMaster for the Trump administration said in an interview with Fox News Thursday that President-elect Joe Biden should not rejoin the 2015 Iran nuclear deal upon taking office in on January 20. McMaster said to Fox host Bret Baier that then-Secretary of State John Kerry was wrong and did not consider the “hostile ideology” of the Iranian regime, in addition to its involvement in regional proxy wars and aggression against the United States. McMaster also spoke of Israel and its strategy in relation to Iran, suggesting that Israel may act against Iran in some form, including a military strike, following the end of Trump’s tenure as president. He noted that this would be in-line with the Begin doctrine. READ MORE

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“The Guardian reporter clearly made no effort to research the legal history of the Bedouin claims”

Posted on November 12, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

MOSAIC MAG
Refuting Ilhan Omar’s Latest Libel of Israel
November 12, 2020

Last week, Congresswoman Ilhan Omar accused the Jewish state of “a grave crime” and a “violation of international law,” and implied that the U.S. by supporting it was “bankrolling ethnic cleansing.” She cited as evidence a report that a recent IDF operation had “demolished the homes of nearly 80 Palestinian Bedouins.” But both the original report and Omar’s framing of it misrepresent the facts. Adam Levick¸ analyzing a similar story that appeared in the Guardian, sets the record straight...What actually happened? The Bedouin set up camp in an area the IDF has used as a firing range since 1972, and which according to international law is under Israeli control. Since the Bedouin don’t have permanent residency there, they have no legal rights to the land. READ MORE

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Obama: “AIPAC moved rightward in accordance with a political shift in Israel”

Posted on November 12, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

ALGEMEINER
In New Memoir, Obama Accuses Netanyahu of Engaging in ‘Orchestrated’ Push Against His Administration
by Staff
November 13, 2020

In his own words, former US President Barack Obama regarded Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a “smart, canny, tough…gifted communicator” who engaged in an “orchestrated” push against his administration. The disclosure is contained in Obama’s presidential memoir, “A Promised Land,” which will be published on Tuesday. In excerpts of the book released in advance, Obama wrote that Netanyahu’s “vision of himself as the chief defender of the Jewish people against calamity allowed him to justify almost anything that would keep him in power.” READ MORE

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“Shurat Hadin Israeli Law Center warns leading international airlines and insurance companies that continued services to the Rafic Hariri International Airport in Beirut could potentially implicate them in aiding terrorist activity”

Posted on November 12, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

ISRAEL HAYOM (by agreement with JNS)
Israeli watchdog sets sites on undermining Hezbollah’s grip on Beirut airport
by Eldad Beck
November 10, 2020

Several major international airlines could face legal action for flying into Lebanon’s international airport, which is notoriously controlled by Hezbollah. The Shurat Hadin Israeli Law Center, which fights the financing of terrorist activity, has sent unprecedented cease and desist warnings to a host of international airlines and insurance companies demanding they halt all services to the Rafic Hariri International Airport in Beirut – or be implicated in allegedly aiding a terrorist group in the commission of war crimes. The letter was sent to 15 companies, including Air France, British Airways, Italy’s Alitalia and Germany’s Lufthansa…READ MORE

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The late Rabbi Sacks on secularization: “Technology, the market, and the liberal democratic state “give us choices, but don’t teach us how to choose”

Posted on November 12, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

JERUSALEM POST
A primer on the theology of Rabbi Jonathan Sacks
by David M. Weinberg
November 12, 2020

…Rather than elaborate further on his achievements and wide influence, I offer here a primer on Rabbi Sacks’ theology: his key concerns, beliefs and recipes for a better future. Secularization of society: Throughout his written works, and especially in his recent volumes on confronting religious violence, on morality, and on Leviticus (The Book of Holiness), Rabbi Sacks tracked the disastrous impact of secularization since the 17th century, including the secularization of knowledge, power, economy and culture, making religion seemingly redundant.“What the secularists forgot,” wrote Sacks, “is that Homo sapiens is a meaning-seeking animal.”READ MORE

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CNN’s Christiane Amanpour compares Trump administration to Kristallnacht, when German Nazis burned synagogues, vandalized Jewish homes, schools, and businesses, and killed close to 100 Jewish people

Posted on November 12, 2020 by ArchitectGuy

NEW YORK POST
CNN’s Amanpour slammed for comparing Trump’s presidency to ‘Kristallnacht’
by Laura Italiano
November 13, 2020

CNN International anchor Christiane Amanpour is being criticized after she compared President Trump’s four years in office to Kristallnacht. “This week 82 years ago, Kristallnacht happened,” Amanpour said on air… “Comparing Trump to Hitler and Kristallnacht, saying they “assault” the “same values” is obscene and outrageous,” tweeted media critic Steve Krakauer on Friday. ‘While Christiane Amanpour enjoys her elite London life and casually throws around Nazi analogies to Donald Trump and his administration, more Jews, Hispanics, Black Americans, LGBT Americans voted for Trump in 2020 than 2016 and for a GOP candidate for president for decades,” he tweeted. READ MORE

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